The Rise of the European Emperor

Because of the need to participate in the naval battle against Denmark, now, Marin has 8 warships and 15 250-class armed merchant ships, all of which have stopped transporting goods and started training and training for naval battles. Mainly, to train shelling in naval battles. For this reason, these ships have to destroy a lot of ammunition every day, which is very expensive.

But these costs are worth it. As long as the Danish fleet can be eliminated, Marin can unite with allies and force Denmark to bow and cede land. Otherwise, as long as the Danish Navy is around, they won't bow their heads.

And, more importantly, once Denmark loses its navy, Marin's 20,000 army can cross the sea to the island of Zealand, and then besiege Copenhagen.

Only by besieging Copenhagen, driving the Danish King Hans to a dead end, or even capturing the Danish King Hans alive, can it be possible to force him to cede the land. Otherwise, just by occupying Jutland, the other side will not yield.

Therefore, if you want to cut flesh from Denmark, you must first solve the Danes' fleet, and then send troops to surround Copenhagen, in order to win fundamentally. Otherwise, King Hans of Denmark would definitely not be willing to cede so much territory.

Moreover, legally speaking, whether it is the Principality of Schleswig, the Principality of Holstein, or the Earl of Oldenburg, they are actually the territory of the Oldenburg family and have nothing to do with the Kingdom of Denmark. Even if these territories were ceded, the Danish nobles would have no problem. Because it does not touch their interests.

As long as the Danish King Hans himself is captured, he can be forced to agree to cede the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein. As for the county of Oldenburg, it did not belong to Hans. However, if you want to capture the county of Oldenburg, you also need Hans's written recognition. Otherwise, there will be big disputes in the future.

But Marin always felt that 23 warships were not enough. After all, the fleet had to face hundreds of Danish warships. 23 warships may be able to hit the Danish fleet, but it is difficult to annihilate them. Because, if the other party runs away sincerely, the mere 23 ships will not be able to stop them.

However, the other ships in Marin's hands were basically the Kirk sailboats used by the Hanseatic League and the Danes.

On the contrary, the Clark sailboats and Caravel sailboats used by the Spanish and Portuguese, because of the new design concept, can be installed with artillery.

Among them, the Clark sailboat is a ship suitable for naval battles after the Galen because of its spacious hull and multi-deck, which can accommodate a lot of artillery. Not only that, because the ship building is tall, even in the battle, the Clark sailboat is better than the Kirk sailboat.

It can be said that whether it is the Hanseatic League or Denmark, the ship types of warships are actually outdated. Now, bows and catapults are still the main weapons on Hanseatic and Danish warships. On the ships of Spain and Portugal, artillery has become the mainstream. Of course, at this stage, the artillery on the ships of Spain and Portugal is still mainly equipped with bronze cannons, which is the legendary "Fran cannon". Moreover, these guns were small in caliber, generally rarely exceeding 10 pounds. Columbus and Da Gama's expedition ships were also equipped with artillery.

At the same time, the Nordic countries were still at the level of the battle. Even Venice, the overlord of the Mediterranean Sea, is currently stuck at the level of a battle. Only after the "Battle of Diu" took place in Indian waters in 1509, when the Portuguese gunboats defeated an enemy fleet far exceeding their own (including many galleys that Venice supported Egypt), Europeans Begin to pay attention to the application of artillery on warships.

Of course, because of the appearance of Marin, the traverser, the artillery will appear in the naval battle in advance. Then, the artillery will surely attract the attention of European countries in advance.

Marin felt that 23 ships would not be safe, so he needed more ships. However, the Kirk was behind, and the Clark was far ahead.

It's too late to build your own ship now.

Because there are only three months left. Therefore, Marin intends to buy existing ships for naval battles.

In fact, Marin still has warships in his hands, that is, the five warships captured from West Frisland. Those 5 warships, belonging to the French type, were also equipped with artillery. However, they are relatively small, only more than 100 tons.

After thinking about it, Marin decided to incorporate the four small warships into the fleet and go to fight Denmark together. But that wasn't enough, so Marin sent his staff to go directly south to Spain, intending to buy ready-made Clark boats.

Spain has more ships of this type, and Marin has a very good relationship with Spain. As long as you give enough money, not only can you buy a boat, but you can also equip your artillery.

As for sailors, Marin is not lacking, and gunners are enough. The gunners on the ship are now full. In fact, half of the gunners are not used in naval battles. Because, in naval battles, only half of the artillery on one side can fire. Therefore, the other half of the artillery is generally idle. Therefore, half of the warships do not need to be full of gunners, but half of the gunners are enough.

But Marin's 23 ships were full of gunners. If you buy back the Clark sailboat, you can actually allocate half of the gunners to those newly bought boats. Those guns on Clark's sailboats were half smaller in caliber. The reason is very simple - because bronze cannons are too expensive. The cost of making heavy artillery is too high, because the price of copper is too expensive. Therefore, small-caliber guns are now popular on Spanish and Portuguese warships. It's not that they can't make big ones, but that large-caliber bronze cannons are too expensive. Moreover, gunpowder is not cheap... Large-caliber artillery, the consumption of gunpowder is even more amazing...

The gunners on the warships under Malin's command were able to control the heavy guns freely, and the light guns were naturally easier to control. Therefore, Marin is not short of gunners.

To this end, Marin specially sent people south to Spain to buy 17 Clark sailing ships for the naval battle with Denmark. By then, the total number of Marin's warships will reach 40, which can be regarded as a force enough to decide the outcome.

As for the size of the boat, Marin doesn't choose, as long as the tonnage is more than 100 tons, and more than 200 tons is better. Moreover, it was bought together with the artillery. By the way, large quantities of artillery and artillery shells will also be purchased in Spain. In this way, after buying it back, let the sailors under Marin get used to it, and then it can be put into application.

In fact, Columbus was very familiar with the Clark sailing ship. Because he used a Clark-type sailboat to explore the Americas before. Also, Columbus was well versed in how to fight with a Clark sailboat.

Therefore, Marin intends that when the 17 Clark-type warships arrive, they will all be handed over to Columbus to command, and cooperate with the current fleet commander Kidd to attack the Danish fleet together...

Because the time was very tight, Marin directly sent people to go south to buy related ships in Spain. As for the gold coins, ships were soon sent to Spain.

The negotiators responsible for the purchase of the ships would ride overland to Spain and make up their way through France. If you travel by land with one person and three horses, it is much faster than the sea. After the group arrived in Spain, they directly negotiated and were responsible for selecting the ships to be purchased. After they had negotiated, the ship that sent gold and silver had almost arrived in Spain. At that time, it was time to hire Spanish sailors to drive the purchased boats north to East Friesland, and then hand them over to Columbus and the sailors he led.

After a short period of adaptation, you can almost join the battle...

In fact, the main battle force this time was actually the original 23 warships. Because the guns on those ships were big enough and had enough firepower. The 17 Clark sailing ships led by Columbus were only auxiliary, the main purpose was to prevent the escape of Danish warships. Once found, intercept it, and try not to run away from a Danish warship.

And when the naval battle with Denmark is over, this fleet of Clark sailboats will go south to the Mediterranean Sea and hide in Lampedusa Island, ready to ship 5,000 soldiers on the island to Rome at any time. The ships sent to Lampedusa before were mainly Kirk sailboats. Because they are Nordic general-purpose ships, they are too conspicuous in the Mediterranean Sea. Marin intends to replace them all.

Moreover, it would be more reasonable to switch to a Spanish-type Clark sailboat. After all, both Sicily and Sardinia are Spanish territories. The presence of Spanish-style Clarks in Italian waters is normal. If the Spanish flag is hoisted, people who don't know it will think it belongs to the Spanish fleet. In this way, when entering Rome, it will not arouse the vigilance and precaution of others because of the problem of the ship type...